The Allegheny County detention facility at Shuman Center has been closed for some time, and now it’s Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center (“Westmoreland closes juvenile detention center amid state investigation, staffing shortages,” June 24, TribLIVE). Given that, there is no mystery in the spike of delinquent crime.
I am well aware that practitioners in the juvenile justice system have an insurmountable challenge. I worked in that system for 40 years while, during that time, teaching senior high Sunday school at my church for 25 years. It was a real study in contrasts. No wonder our youth are in such peril. We have a culture more concerned with the sexualization of kids in middle school than giving them a strong moral foundation.
Go ahead, conduct a survey of that same cohort regarding church attendance. Therein lies your answer!
Giles H. Guisbert
North Huntingdon